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Dir. Craig Ferguson

Rating: 8.0  |  0 User Reviews  |  Send to Friend

By David Thomas

When you title your Iraq War documentary "No End in Sight," you're pretty much telegraphing your feelings on the subject. Writer/Director Craig Ferguson doesn't obfuscate: He offers hard facts and testimonials from key insiders (including former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage), ground forces, residents, and journalists who have all been there as well as a few academics thrown in for good measure. Interestingly, whether or not it was a good idea to invade in the first place is only briefly touched upon. Smartly, the focus of this film is the mistakes that were made after major combat operations were declared over. In particular, Ferguson spends a good deal of time focused on the first month or two of the invasion. The consensus among his interview subjects seems to be that for a brief shining moment, the Iraqis liked us, they really liked us. Then the looting began. And we did nothing. And our credibility vanished along with the priceless works of art and unguarded munitions. Another fatal error Ferguson highlights is the order to disband the Iraqi military who, given the now-infamous low troop strength, would have been invaluable in quelling unrest and were already making overtures to our military offering their aid. Instead, half a million armed Iraqi citizens became angry and unemployed overnight. And the insurgency got half a million new recruits. Campbell Scott narrates the proceedings with a detached-yet-indicting calm, but two figures in particular make a lasting impression among Ferguson's gallery of talking heads. Colonel Paul Hughes, director of strategic policy for the U.S. occupation in 2003, sums up the incredulity and frustration of many on the ground who had good ideas early on but felt undermined by their superiors, even as they were making progress. But taking the film from a place of righteous outrage to abiding sorrow, Marine Lieutenant Seth Moulton strikes a deep chord of honest shame that the country he loves has not done better by the people it swore to protect, even from its own troops.

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